Damien Chazelle
The Current Cinema
Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon” Goes Nowhere, in a Mad Rush
The “La La Land” director’s over-the-top paean to silent Hollywood, starring Margot Robbie as a hopeful actress and Brad Pitt as an affable superstar, amounts to a frenzied scrapbook.
By Anthony Lane
The Front Row
“Babylon,” Reviewed: Damien Chazelle Whips Up a Golden-Hollywood Cream Puff
The movie is a rewrite of “Singin’ in the Rain” as a tragedy, although one with plenty of satirical comedy.
By Richard Brody
Culture Desk
Remembering Al Reinert and “For All Mankind,” the Precursor to “Apollo 11”
Half a century after Neil Armstrong climbed down that ladder to the lunar surface, we have become inured to the many scientific gains engendered by the space program. But Reinert’s film remains shocking in its beauty.
By Gregory Zinman
Starry Night Dept.
What Would Damien Chazelle Weigh on the Moon?
The director of “First Man” examines a chunk of moon rock and ponders space exploration.
By Michael Schulman
The Front Row
“First Man,” Reviewed: Damien Chazelle’s Neil Armstrong Bio-Pic Is an Accidental Right-Wing Fetish Object
Starring Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy, it is a film of deluded, cultish longing for an earlier era of American life.
By Richard Brody
The Current Cinema
Fun in “La La Land”
Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling create dynamic thrills out of simple things in this grownup musical.
By Anthony Lane